Paradise Lost

(1667)

An epic poem in blank verse, considered by many scholars to be one of the greatest poems of the English language. Paradise Lost tells the biblical story of the fall from grace of Adam and Eve (and, by extension, all humanity) in language that is a supreme achievement of rhythm and sound. The main characters in the poem are God, Lucifer (Satan), Adam, and Eve. Much has been written about Milton's powerful and sympathetic characterization of Satan. The Romantic poets William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley saw Satan as the real hero of the poem and applauded his rebellion against the tyranny of Heaven. Many other works of art have been inspired by Paradise Lost, notably Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation (1798) and John Keats's long poem "Endymion" (1818). Milton's Paradise Regained (1671) dramatizes the temptation of Christ.

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Paradise Lost is about Adam and Eve--how they came to be created and how they came to lose their place in the Garden of Eden, also called Paradise. It's the same story you find in the first pages of Genesis, expanded by Milton into a very long, detailed, narrative poem. It also includes the story of the origin of Satan. Originally he was called Lucifer, an angel in heaven who led his followers in a war against God, and was ultimately sent with them to hell. Thirst for revenge led him to cause man's downfall by turning into a serpent and tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.--Submitted by Anonymous.

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Recent Forum Posts on Paradise Lost

A First Time Reader's Dilemma...

...To read it with or without all of extensive notations. I have the beautiful (but really heavy!) Modern Library Edition and it seems that each page of Paradise Lost is filled with maybe 50 words of the poem and 300 words of notes on the poem. I basically have two choices: Read the poem with or without the notes. There are pros and cons to both. If I choose to read them I will undoubtedly get a greater understanding of the poem, especially in all its complexities and subtleties that both first-time readers and poetry neophytes (like myself) will miss. The great con is that reading the notes will interrupt the flow of the poem. Obviously the pros and cons of not reading them is the reverse; a greater artistic experience in terms of how it was meant to be read, but a loss of the understanding. Normally I prefer to experience art first and THEN go back and talk/learn all about it. But with such a work as PL I'm wondering if I can enjoy it without fully understanding what all I'm reading. All advices and opinions are welcomed.

Posted By MorpheusSandman at Fri 31 Oct 2008, 8:30 PM in Paradise Lost || 3 Replies

So what’s so great about Paradise Lost?

I’ll tell you what’s so great about it. Everything. I just finished reading this for the first time and, in a word, I found it amazing. (In two words: absolutely amazing.) This thing is beautiful. You could take out of it any 10 or 12 lines completely at random and you’d have yourself a wonderful poem. Here, let’s try it. Okay, I just flipped through the pages and stuck my finger in the middle and pointed randomly (my eyes looking away, over at my filing cabinet as a matter of fact) and then took the next several lines from wherever my finger happened to be pointing when I looked back again. Here is the result: How can I live without thee, how forego Thy sweet converse and love so dearly joined, To live again in these wild woods forlorn? Should God create another Eve, and I Another rib afford, yet loss of thee Would never from my heart; no no, I feel The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh, Bone of my bone, thou art, and from thy state Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe. (Book 9, lines 908-916.) Wow. See? Now, that would be amazing enough in, say, a one-hundred line poem. This work is over 11,000 lines! It's truly a marvel. One wonders at Milton’s true motivation with this work. It’s on the one hand breathtaking in its scope, yet is, in its essence, about one chapter of the Bible, namely Genesis 3. Of course other parts of the Bible are detailed as we hear about Creation and are given summaries as well of the flood, the Tower of Babel, and an introduction to Christ and the idea of redemption. What was Milton trying to do with this? It strikes me that, for his time, this must have been a pretty gutsy thing to write. The man had some brass, no? These were sacred texts. Who was he to feel he could expand or elaborate on them? Was he trying to pass it off as fiction? Or was he trying to present a more detailed explanation of arguably the most important part of the Bible? And did he feel he was somehow within his rights to do so? Whatever his thinking, it seems clear to me that he’s added immensely to the story. (I think, for example, that it’s Milton’s Satan we think of when we think of Satan, not the Bible’s.) Milton has brought it all to life. A damn fine reason to write poetry, if you ask me. A truly amazing read.

Posted By Chester at Sun 10 Aug 2008, 11:10 AM in Paradise Lost || 1 Reply

Paradise Lost appropriations?

I need to find two appropriations (works that draw on the original text) of Paradise Lost. So far I have the His Dark Materials series by Philliip Pullman, but I am having trouble finding anything else. Any suggestions?

Posted By Mr Menace at Tue 8 Jul 2008, 10:08 PM in Paradise Lost || 4 Replies

About Paradise Lost

I am reading Paradise Lost now, I need an English edition with full notes, introduction and bibliography, but the version in my hands does not. I can not buy the suitable version, would you like to introduce me the suitable one on line (Is there one with full notes available on line?) or some other references about this classic work? Thanks a lot! I am really interested in English literature, especially books in 17th centery. Expecting for your suggestions!:yawnb:

Posted By bravenewlife at Mon 31 Mar 2008, 12:04 AM in Paradise Lost || 1 Reply

Allegory in PL

I am just wondering what you guys have to say about the allegorical content of Paradise Lost. I have some references, Sin and Death being probably the most obvious, but I would like to hear what you guys think. Also, I have heard conflicting views about the idea that it is an allegory of his own personal experience with the rise and fall of Cromwell and the English Commonwealth. Personally I think that it definitely could be, but what are your thoughts?

Posted By kage at Wed 30 Jan 2008, 1:19 AM in Paradise Lost || 0 Replies

Paradise Lost by John Milton

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Posted By Albus Dumbledore at Wed 10 Oct 2007, 4:42 PM in Paradise Lost || 3 Replies

please help me: does the first five lines in Book I conclude grammatical error?

I wanna recite PL. As a matter of fact, I am done with Book I. But I still feel puzzled at the first 5 lines: OF MAN’S first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, 5 According to my personal knowledge, it seems that the sentence above mentioned should be "till one greater Man/Restores us, and regains the blissful Seat". Whether "till one greater Man/Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat" has anything wrong? Thanks!

Posted By recitePL at Tue 11 Sep 2007, 2:16 AM in Paradise Lost || 4 Replies

Most important passage in Paradise lost

I was wondering what everyone thinks is the most important passage in Paradise Lost? I wrote an essay saying Book 9 in the scene where Eve is tempted, rationalizes, and eats the fruit from the forbidden tree. For 3 reasons: 1. It shows the importance of not straying from God's will 2. It establishes Adam as the hero of Paradise Lost through eating the apple and following Eve into mortality 3.The fact that both Adam and Eve fell essentially opens up the world to the evils that were previously concealed such as Sin and Death and their presence paves the way for many of the important stories of the Bible to unfold such as Cain and Abel, The Tower of Babel, Noah's Ark, and the coming of The Son. Opinions?

Posted By sbshox523 at Mon 4 Jun 2007, 1:27 PM in Paradise Lost || 0 Replies

Perhaps God is flawed.....

I am writing a paper on any of the works we have read in our class and I chose to write on a certain scene in Paradise Lost. I have chosen the scene in Book one where Satan is rising up off of the lake of fire and giving his speech to his minions. Anyway, I was just thinking about ways to expand on it and analyze it and all that. My train of thought led me to think that perhaps God is the one who is flawed. I mean, God did create EVERYTHING; he is the ALMIGHTY being, which means he created Lucifer, the archangel, and somewhere along the way things went wrong with him. Anyway, since Lucifer, who becomes Satan, came from God, isn't God flawed in some way? From Satan comes all the evil in the world, and Satan came from God. Would saying this be taking it too far, am I just reading into things too much? Is my reasoning off-kilter somewhere? It makes sense to me that God created Lucifer, Lucifer becomes Satan, Satan creates evil, therefore, God created evil, and God must be flawed in some way. Any other thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated, I just wanted to share my idea and discuss it with others.

Posted By Ivana331 at Fri 25 May 2007, 4:34 PM in Paradise Lost || 9 Replies

Satan as a mythic hero...

Working on a paper here, with thoughts of working something similar into a thesis later, and I wanted to see what you guys thought... The basic premis is this, Satan of Paradise Lost fits into the "hero" mold in that his story follows the basic concepts of an epic hero and of the "hero journeys" of Campbell and others. He travels a long way and experiences a great loss before the start of the epic. He is called to action and told to refuse. He must cross an important threshold (gates of hell) before entering the belly of the whale (Milton's cosmos). He confronts the father rather than seeking attonment and tempts the goddess (Eve) rather than be tempted. And so on... I just wanted to see if anyone else has made similar connections. I haven't found any related articles on journal databases (but that's never stopped me).

Posted By Kevin Garcia at Sun 29 Apr 2007, 6:44 PM in Paradise Lost || 8 Replies

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Paradise Lost

(1667)

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